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Forget about those corporate giants extending Black Friday business hours into Thanksgiving. It’s a night of a Southern California tradition, the Turkey Night Grand Prix.

And, following a 14-year run on asphalt, the USAC National/Western Midget race is returning to its dirt roots at Perris Auto Speedway. As a tribute to long-time race organizer J.C. Agajanian, who made the race a staple of the local scene at Ascot Park in Gardena, the main event will be 98 laps around the half-mile clay track.

“My dad absolutely loved the event when it was part of our operations at Ascot Park,” said J.C. Jr., who helps oversee the annual classic. “This race is so much a part of our family history and we are pleased to see it endure as it has.”

Tonight’s race is the first of two events this weekend at Perris. The inaugural Street Stock Turkey Bowl is set for Friday and Saturday with a $22,500 purse.

Friday’s winner will collect $1,500, and the winner on Saturday will pocket $4,000. If one driver wins both mains, there is a $2,000 bonus.

“Turkey Night” represents a rich history of Southern California racing. In its 78-year history, the 72 races have been held at nine venues: Gilmore Stadium (the first in 1934), Gardena Stadium, Ascot Park, 605 Speedway, Saugus Speedway, Bakersfield, Perris, Ventura Raceway and Irwindale.

PAS last hosted the race in 1996 with Billy Boat taking the checkered flag.

Caleb Armstrong of New Castle, Ind., who won the event last year at Irwindale, tops the field. Mike Spencer, who most recently won the Budwesier Oval Nationals in a sprint car, also will compete.

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From conversations with the parties involved, it’s apparent the National Orange Show and Dirty Entertainment have done the due diligence in switching Orange Show Speedway from pavement to dirt. Or in this case, clay.

“It’s been a long process,” said Scott Burns, one of two principals in Dirt Entertainment. “It started in April, went dormant for a while and then picked up again.”

In the interim, Burns and Steve Miller took over operations at Route 66 Raceway and Victorville, which turned out to be “quite a learning experience.”

But why the conversion from asphalt to clay in 2013? It’s the economy.

“Dirt is the ‘in’ thing at the moment,” said Burns, a former sprint car racer who never lost his love of the sport. “Ten years from now that may not be the case, but right now dirt racing is out-drawing pavement throughout the country.”

The group will have a tribute to Orange Show Speedway on Dec. 15 with a final race on pavement. The one-off event will extend the streak of continuous racing at the quarter-mile oval to 68 years, the longest in the state.

Once the checkered flag drops that night, the venue will be transformed. Burns and Miller, each with extensive experience in dirt racing, have ideas on how to improve the racing in addition to attracting fields and spectators.

“We’re not based on corporate sponsorships,” Burns said. “Also, we’ll offer stand passes for the competitors as we do in Victorville. You can’t make the competitors pay the freight. It’s a short-sighted way to go.”

It’s an ambitious plan, but none moreso than an 8- to 10-race schedule in 2013 before a “pretty strong effort” in 2014.

Dirt Entertainment also has reached agreements with Ventura and Santa Maria raceways to conduct a series of sanctioned races. It will give Orange Show Speedway a built-in group of racers.

The future for pavement racers? Tow cars out to Las Vegas and Blythe, the last remaining paved small track in Southern California.

Burns remains a die-hard Ascot Park fan, but he also understands one can’t go back to the old days. However, some of the ideas the late J.C. Agajanian had remain relevant today.

“We have good people behind us. I think we’re going in the right direction,” Burns said.

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There is a definite connection between Roger Penske and Southern California. He started his quest for a NASCAR championship in 1972 at Riverside International Raceway and finally achieved the dream last Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In between, he won a race in a Matador with Bobby Allison behind the wheel at Ontario Motor Speedway, built California Speedway in Fontana in 1997 and won races at the track with Rusty Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield.

Penske has a rich racing history, notably 15 victories at the Indianapolis 500 and 23 championships in various disciplines. Now, after 40 years, he has a NASCAR title.

And in typical Penske fashion, the 75-year-old racing icon gave others credit.

“It’s not about how much money you have and what you can buy on the race track. It’s about the people,” Penske said. “It’s about the human capital that we’ve been able to put together. I can’t tell you what a thrill it is for me. It was a goal I’ve had for many years and been able to make it happen now. It’s just amazing.”

Penske also made it known he considers driver Brad Keselowski remarkable.

“This guy Keselowski is something special,” Penske said in Victory Lane. “And for me, it’s a lifelong goal when you think about (Rick) Hendrick, you think about (Dale) Earnhardt and (Richard) Childress and (Joe) Gibbs, just to mention some of the guys who have been up there at the top of our sport.

“We’ve been close, but we’ve never delivered. This guy here delivered it for us. Every week all through the year, he gave us this championship.”

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His first Sports Center interview as Sprint Cup champion aside, what can we expect from Keselowski?

Drinking Miller Lite out of oversized glass on national television, with a slight buzz, was enough to indicate he’s no Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon clone.

Kyle Petty, who has a unique perspective on NASCAR, believes Keselowski might be just what the sport needs. He’s not as smooth and polished as Johnson or Gordon nor as gruff as Tony Stewart, but he has an entertaining history.

“We talk about the champion representing the sport. It’s not like the champion is Miss America who goes out to civic organizations and gives speeches or anything like that,” said Petty, the ex-driver now serving as an analyst for Speed. “But I think he will be a great champion.

“He grew up in Michigan. He grew up working on these cars. He’s a blue-collar guy from a blue-collar family and when we go back to Dale Earnhardt Sr., David Pearson, ‘The King’ and to Darrell Waltrip and guys like that, they worked their way up. Brad Keselowski traveled the same road to get to this point. He’ll be a great champion for this sport.”

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Scribbles from the notebook:

It was quite a bittersweet period for Dodge. First, Allen Johnson breaks through the factory hot rod class in NHRA with a championship and Keselowski then prevails in NASCAR.

Dodge and Mopar will return in NHRA, but Keselowski’s triumph was a swan song in the stock car world. There are no immediate plans for Dodge to return and, worse yet, no powerhouse teams to woo into the fold.

Last Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix in Austin drew more than 100,000 fans, a fifth of Speed’s viewers of the event.

Speed’s viewing audience scored a 0.42 Nielsen rating, an improvement of 30 percent from last year’s race from Brazil.

Diamond Bar-based Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) has finalized an agreement to purchase the International Motorsports Industry Show (IMIS), which will be consolidated with the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show.

Lou Brewster is a nationally recognized motorsports journalist who has staffed NASCAR and NHRA events since 1969. Has also staffed high school football, in five different states, since 1967. Has won several national awards in writing and breaking news.

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